


Caught Falling

by Ria_Trevelyan



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Feelings, Injury Recovery, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 12:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4138389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ria_Trevelyan/pseuds/Ria_Trevelyan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hidden feelings come to light after the Inquisitor nearly dies in an accident at Skyhold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught Falling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FenVallas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FenVallas/gifts).



> Written (albeit perhaps a bit loosely) for a prompt given to me by a friend who was having a bit of a bad time. 
> 
> Hope this cheers them up, even if it is coming about a week too late.

It’s like remembering a dream.

A decidedly _bad_ dream. 

Just flashes at first, bits to piece together that don’t completely make sense. 

She was in the library with Dorian, that part is fine. They were laughing, she’d been trying to tell him a serious story about….about….

_Dammit._

Alright, so she can’t _really_ remember that either. He’d started playing a childish game where he deliberately misunderstood everything she said and it was just so frustrating! Then they’d been laughing, uproariously. Annoyance overridden by friendship.

At some point he had said something about Solas. 

Maybe? 

Evelyn remembers looking down into the rotunda. Seeing him reading. Big surprise there. Though she thought she had caught his eyes for just a moment, darting up to where the two of them stood. Annoyed, perhaps, at their noisiness.

She remembers leaning on the railing, listening to it creak familiarly under her weight. Resting her elbows back on it. 

A loud crack and then…

Did she fall? Did the railing break, was it an accident? It had to be, right. No assassins plot could be that indirect. No one could know that she would lean against that specific bit of rotted wood.

She remembers hearing Dorian yelling at Solas. 

“Fasta Vass! Solas, snap out of it! She’s dying! Now is not the time!” 

Remembers Solas’ face hovering over her own, his familiar features practically unrecognizable in their fear. Eyes wide and red, darting over her in undisguised panic. 

Evelyn had tried to sit up then. That part she’ll never forget. Seeing the wooden beam protruding grotesquely from her midsection, as though run through with a sword. Taking in the bright spray of red blood against the panel of Solas’ fresco. 

Her blood.

He was going to have to repaint that one now. 

She remembers shivering as the warm blood pooled around her. Thinking about the sheer ridiculousness of her situation.

The mighty Inquisitor. Vanquisher of Dragons, Red Templars, the Hero who United Orlais and faced down the Nightmare…...nearly died in her own castle due to shitty construction.  
Of all the times she could have been fatally wounded. Honestly, it would have been almost funny if it didn’t hurt so much. Or maybe she was just in shock.

After that the scraps of coherence that she could remember got even _less_ specific: Feeling someone grasping her hand is the only constant though her memories. It feels like it never started or stopped. A presence by her side from the moment she fell, all through her healing. 

When Ellendra and the other healers came for her with a gurney it was there. It was there all through the night when she slept fitfully and was woken every hour to take another healing potion or to have her bandages changed. When Leliana forced her into coherency to answer simple questions: her name, where she grew up, her siblings, the date. 

Evelyn knew that meant they feared her brain had been injured in the fall. Her skull had probably been cracked badly. But as far as she could tell, she still felt like herself, still she felt someone holding firmly on to her hand. 

And there were other things too…

Or at least, Eve thought there were.

That was the trouble with it. Trying to piece these events together when she woke up, what surely felt like days later, unattended and in her empty room. It was very hard to tell what was real and what was merely an impression. With her mind thus scattered it was very easy to find false memories scattered in with the truth.

Had she really remembered someone at her side? A weight beside her on the bed. A hand on her cheek, cool fingers brushing hair from her forehead. A voice reading to her, monotonous and soothing words to chase away her fitful dreams. Or was that just a reflection from her childhood, memories of other bedridden illnesses?

It didn’t seem unlikely, although something about the memory of this touch seemed different. Affection in another way, intimate but not familial.

 _Maker_ , maybe Leliana was right. Maybe she was going completely batty. 

The soft creaking of her door is enough to draw her attention from her thoughts.

“Ah, you’re awake. Good.” 

It’s the least put together she’s ever seen Dorian, not that that’s saying much. He still looks far more presentable than your average bloke, and yet, those dark circles under his eyes speak volumes about how worried he’s been. 

“How long was I out?” 

“Almost three days now. We were all very worried. Quite inconsiderate of you, really.”

Evelyn fights the urge to roll her eyes, struggling to sit up properly in her overly pillowy bed.  
“I love you _too_ , Dorian.”

“Ah, yes, about that.” he says, suddenly taking on the tone of conspiracy and gossip. Apparently all too eager to not linger on the topic of her mortality or anything so heavy as _his_ feelings. “When _were_ you going to tell everyone about whatever’s going on between you and your little elven apostate?”

“I’m...sorry?” It’s really all she can possibly say. Did Dorian just insinuate there was something going on between her and _Solas?_ Of all people. He barely even spoke to her, didn’t give her the time of day unless she came to him directly...usually with questions about the fade or some kind of magic. 

_Andraste’s Tits!_ The one time she _had_ tried to flirt with him (though it seemed ages upon ages ago now) he had implied that he didn’t even find humans attractive. He could not have possibly made her feel more of a fool. For Dorian to even imply that the two of them were an item….well, perhaps she was not the only one to have hit their head. 

“Don’t be sorry, my dear. It was an absolutely _delicious_ way to find out my best friend had been hiding a lover from me. Watching him fall apart over your dying body was a sheer delight.” 

Maker. Sometimes she really wants to smack Dorian though. Jumping to such silly conclusions about her private life. Evelyn wonders how many people will believe this rumor now. Poor Solas, he must be beside himself.

“I am the Inquisitor, I’m sure it was only --”

“Yes, I’m sure Solas would have begged me to “Stay with him.” as well, if I’d been splattered all over the floor.”

And there it is, the memory of just that. As if Dorian has handed her the key to a door in her own mind, she can see it: 

_Solas is leaning so close that she can feel his ragged breaths on her cheek, forehead pressed almost painfully to hers. His lips trembling with emotion, so close to her own, his body heat practically searing against her chilled skin.  
“Stay with me, vhenan.” _

It is over as quickly as it started, but her shock must show clearly on her face because Dorian is looking at her with a bit of poorly masked alarm. 

“You truly didn’t know?”

“No, I -- There’s nothing _to_ know!”

“Yes, well..” Dorian actually seems flustered for a few moments before regaining his composure, “..does Solas know that?” he answers cheekily, a smirk back on his face, “because he certainly seemed rather... _familiar_ with you over the past few days.”

Well..that’s. 

_Oh._

It certainly explains a few things. The presence she remembers. Feeling comforted, a hand in hers. Feeling safe and taken care of. But….

But _Solas?_ He’d always seemed so disinterested in her beyond their more scholarly conversations. Not that she hadn’t caught a glimpse of more: a wicked sense of humor and a quick wit, an obviously romantic heart, and Evelyn could have sworn he was lonely…. but he’d always kept his distance. Shut her out at every turn when she’d attempted to approach him in Haven. 

So she’d given up. Approached him only when she had some matter of ethics or arcane interest to debate. Had stubbornly stopped thinking of him much at all, really.

So to hear that he had spent the past few days at her bedside. That he had, perhaps, spent the past...what? Weeks, months, harboring feelings for her -- if what Dorian said was true.

Was more than a bit disconcerting. 

Evelyn pinches the bridge of her nose and thinks that she _really_ needs to talk to Solas about this….but first.

“How so?” 

A few more questions couldn’t hurt. Best not to go in blind, after all.

“Oh you know, the usual besotted behavior. Sat by your side day and night, murmuring elvish nonsense --”

_“Dorian!”_

“What? It’s not like any of us could make sense of it. Certainly it doesn’t mean anything to you. Why he couldn’t simply speak in trade is beyond me….”

Eve rolls her eyes again. Finally taking a nibble of her breakfast just in time for Dorian to speak the words that will cause her to spit it out.

“I know he said, er...Venin? Vheena….that one a lot. I think it’s a pet name, like, um, Amatus. In Tevene.”

“Vhenan.” she interjects, “it means heart. Elven mages in the tower said it to each other all the time. Do you remember anything else?”

Not too surprising. She’d already heard him call her as much in the memory Dorian stirred up earlier. Though at least now Evelyn has some proof that she hadn’t just hallucinated it all. 

“I’m not sure. Maybe. Air something, Ehr leth...I’m not sure. Ask him yourself.”

It’s then that she sputters up her broth.

“Ar lath ma?” she asks, though she need not wait for an answer.

Her memories surface again. All at once rushing to the surface, crystal clear with a sudden certainty. As though they had been there all along, lurking just beneath the surface. 

_It was the first time she actually awakened. From sleep, not from blood loss, or momentary fainting spell from the pain. and she wasn’t alone. Her head could barely move on the pillow from her weakness but she could still see Solas from where she lay. Pacing like a mad man at the foot of her bed, fists clenching and unclenching with unspent anxious energy at his sides. His face was drawn and tired, bags under his eyes from exhaustion and yet he kept watch._

_Confusion, Evelyn remembers that most of all. Of everyone she may have expected to find fretting over her sickbed Solas was not even on the list._

_She remembers trying to say something then, though she can’t recall what. Perhaps she’d been asking for water. But he turns to her at the smallest sound and his change in demeanor could not be more immediate. The harsh, almost angry line of his face softening into concern as he comes to sit by her side -- completely forgoing the chair. Evelyn remembers being surprised, it was so intimate, the warmth of his hip against her own on her bed. The way his hands were on her immediately, with a familiarity that had never been between them before...checking her injuries and raising a cup to her lips._

_When she is finished he tilts her chin up gently, searching her eyes for lucidity before he whispers the words._

_‘Ar lath ma, Evelyn. I will be here when you wake.’ then his magic wraps around her ever so sweetly and pulls her back into the fade._

“Yes.” Dorian is saying, “That’s the one. Said it to you every time we woke you up for potions until Leliana drove him off this morning. He’s probably not going to be too thrilled about missing this, come to think of it.”

No, Evelyn imagines he won’t be. Especially since he’d promised her his presence. Though a small part of her suspects that now that she’s healthy and whole again he’ll be back to his normal, distant self. That he will try to play it off as though nothing has changed.

It’s all so improbable. A crazy dream from which she half expects to wake at any moment. 

Solas wants her? Has been showing open affection to her unconscious form for days? Making unabashed confessions of love?

There’s a confrontation due here. Should she be happy? Greet him with joy and affection? This was something she once wanted, after all. 

Should she be angry? He was overly familiar with her when she was helpless. He showed affection, started rumors, made the others assume things about their relationship….so, embarrassed perhaps? Merely curious?

“Dorian, can you..”

A hurried patter of feet on the stairs make them both turn towards the door just in time to see the very subject of their conversation come rushing through. 

For a moment, the sheer amount of affection written on his features when he looks at her is breathtaking. Makes Evelyn want to forgo the actual conversation and explanations and just summon him into her arms.

Then he scowls at Dorian, apparently unable to resist the urge to be rude.

“Dorian, leave. I must speak with the Inquisitor in private.” a brusque dismissal even for Solas, and Evelyn tries not to be overly amused as the two bristle at each other like angry cats. Dorian on his feet in moments with his hip cocked in casual challenge. 

“Oh? And why is that? It’s not as though your relationship---” 

The word _‘relationship’_ has Solas’ eyes darting over nervously to the bed, but he recovers quickly. Did he think she would not find out? Or had he simply wanted to be the one to tell her?

“--hasn’t already been the hot topic everyone’s lips for the past three days. Don’t you think it’s a bit too late to be worried about discretion now?”

Despite herself Evelyn giggles, but gives a small shake of her head. 

“It’s alright Dorian, I’ll be fine. Solas and I just need to have a talk.” 

A single well-plucked raised eyebrow is the only response she gets, but after a few moments he acquiesces. 

“As you wish my dear, but do be sure to give me all the gorey details later. Though I do urge you to consider your options carefully. I’m quite certain the Commander is sweet on you as well, so there’s no need to put all your eggs in the one basket. As it were. Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Your opinion is appreciated, Dorian.” though Solas’ tone says that it is anything but, all tightly contained vitriol and sarcasm. It sort of makes Eve want to kiss him, though that may only be a byproduct of the fact that she knows she now _can._

Thinks she can? 

Well, that’s what they’re going to talk about, anyhow. 

The tiniest *click* of the door to her quarters shutting behind Dorian seems to echo throughout her chambers.

Honestly, Eve is expecting some awkwardness between them now. Feels for the first time aware of the stiffness of her limbs, aching dully from laying in bed for so long. Becomes aware of how naked her neck feels, her normally flowing locks bound back to avoid tangles during her incapacitation. 

Perhaps she should have attempted to put off this confrontation until she was in better shape.

Too late now. 

“Vhenan?” he ventures, seeming unsure only in body language, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot as though fighting the urge to come closer. In his face he is unguarded, the blind affection and love she saw there earlier has returned. Solas is looking at her as though she is something precious, unparalleled in worth.

“So I’m your heart now, am I?” such a change. After all, he’s never even really called her by her name before. Always Inquisitor. They seem to have made a rather dramatic jump in titles. “I feel like I should have been told.”

It’s probably unkind. To bait him like this, to tease. But he must know how poorly he has handled the situation….and, well, surely he loves her for a reason. Evelyn cannot help but be herself. Even if that self is sometimes a bit of a bitch.

It also feels as though somehow he’s earned himself a little snark. Misleading her as he has about his feelings and his interest, springing all this on her and….ok. She doesn’t feel bad anymore. He’s probably earned himself some shit, and Evelyn knows she’ll give in by the end anyways.

Why not make him sweat for a little while?

Not that it’s easy, when he clears his throat in response and blushes so prettily. But continues undeterred.

“You have been my heart for a long while. I have simply been too blind, too stubborn to admit it. Even to myself.”

Ok, that’s...it’s not like she hadn’t suspected. The kind of love he was showing didn’t just pop up overnight, but still. To hear him admit it aloud, so unashamed. Well, it made her sit up a little straighter, made her want to be worthy.

“Why now then? Would you ever have done anything, said _anything_ , Solas, if I hadn’t nearly died?”

Maker, she just wants to apologize immediately. The way his eyebrows screw together and his whole expression just crumples. It feels as though Eve has kicked a puppy. He came here more open than she’s ever imagined he could be and she’s throwing it back in his face.

“I had not been planning on it. No.” 

“Then what did you --”

“Evelyn, _please_.” 

The desperate tone of his voice shocks her, makes her push herself up against the back of the bedframe and reasses the situation. At least whatever spell had been keeping him at a distance seems to have broken, and he is at her bedside in three long strides. Eyes tracing the empty space beside her on the bed with a poorly concealed longing, and Evelyn can tell he wants to take his place there. 

But he doesn’t. 

Fists his hands at his side until his knuckles turn white, but he doesn’t reach out for her. Evelyn wonders why he is holding himself back now. Why he looks so tortured, and why _she_ feels so guilty for it.

Solas recomposes himself and then continues.  
“Evelyn please. I know I have gone about this more than poorly. But do not tease me.” his voice falters, she would almost call it a break. Though he recovers quickly. “Not about this.” 

Eve shakes her head. Because what else is she supposed to do. She isn’t teasing. She’s just trying to understand. Just trying to wrap her head around this entire situation, but they seem to be on entirely different pages of this story.

She wants to put him at ease, but it’s difficult when Evelyn isn’t really even sure what the problem is. All she’s done so far is ask questions, innocent questions, she thought...but he is not acting like it.

So Eve _does_ instead, thinking perhaps actions will be less easily misinterpreted. Wraps her fingers around his forearm and squeezes gently. Reassuring, before letting her grip slide down, taking his hand in her own. The angle alone making it awkward, but despite the fact that they have barely touched each other before something about this contact just feels _...right._

His eyes dart to their tangled fingers warily before a small smile fights it’s way back onto his face. Expression softening once more as he allows Evelyn to lightly tug him down onto the bed, where she knows he wants to be. Their bodies not quite touching this time, but Solas pulls her hand into his lap and cradles it there like it’s something precious, running both thumbs over her palm and along her wrist. 

The intimacy of it makes her squirm a bit.

“You will consider it then?” his voice is low, almost a reverent whisper. 

_‘Consider what?’_ hovers on her tongue, but Evelyn doesn’t let it escape. Those aren’t the right words and she knows it. Doesn’t want to shatter this moment with her stupidity. Maybe she is missing something, something from when she was out. A forgotten conversation from her half lucid periods he assumes she will remember.

“Yes.” she says instead, matching his hushed tones. Watches relief break like daylight across his face, feels her breath catch for a moment when he forgets himself and surges forward, braces herself for the press of his lips that never comes. Damn.

Instead he freezes, catches himself halfway and pulls back, shaking his head and looking almost amused with himself. Eve wonders if she should have met him halfway.

“I apologize if I seem overeager, it is only… that is to say, I was not expecting you to be so amenable to the idea.” 

Solas raises her hand to his lips and presses a chaste kiss to her palm. Evelyn cannot help the grin that blooms on her face in response, she had never seen him so flustered before. 

“Though the surprise was hardly an unpleasant one.”

Oh. He means….

_Oh._

“You thought I was going to reject you?” 

A sad smile, and Evelyn shifts herself closer to him on the bed, pressing the warmth of their bodies against each other through the sheets. The desire to kiss him senseless is almost overpowering.

“I was not overly optimistic about my chances. No.”

His words shock a laugh from her this time. How Solas can be so matter of fact about it is beyond her. Evelyn can see easily how she could come to love him, probably not even that far in the future.

“Then why did you never say anything before? Why didn’t you respond to my flirting? I mean, _Andraste’s tits_ Solas, you told me you weren’t even interested in human women! You made me feel like a fool for even hoping and now all of a sudden---” Eve means for it to be said in jest, but her tone comes out just on the wrong side of accusatory. Cutting herself off before she can dig in too deep.

He looks hurt in response. Not that she can blame him. Harsh words, but true. And she does want her answers, but perhaps now isn’t the time. 

“I thought it would be easier for us both if things remained...uncomplicated.”

“So you _lied_?”

She watches his jaw clench at that, perhaps taking offense to her accusation. Or perhaps just as frustrated as Eve is with his poor decision making in the past. After all, he cannot change his actions now. Though when he tries to look away before answering, Evelyn is quick to guide his eyes back to hers, a steady hand on his cheek.

“I did.” 

Eve lets her thumb drag across his lips. Perhaps as reassurance to him that she isn’t as angry as she might sound. Perhaps because she’s always wanted to. 

“And now?”

His eyes go molten but don’t waver this time when he answers, lips twitching upwards in a smile when he tells her what she already knows. Still, to hear it aloud in his voice, said right to her face, not in a memory is quite something.

“Ar lath ma.” 

For a moment he pauses, presses a hand over her stomach where the worst of her wounds had been and just looks...distraught.. before he continues. 

“I thought myself prepared for the worst, but facing your death made me realize what a fool I have been. I could never go back to the way things were before once I’d held you in my arms.”

Fighting back a blush and a smile Evelyn answers, struggling to maintain the same level of snark as before.

“Did you learn all of your romantic skills in the fade as well? Because that line was just _awful_.”

 _‘Liar.’_ she chastises herself privately. _‘You loved it.’_

Very cheesy, yes, but rather nice too. No one has ever said anything like that to her. It’s just sad that she cannot respond in kind. Though from the frantic humming of Evelyn’s heart within her chest perhaps she is in deeper than she thought, perhaps it just feels too dangerous to admit it. 

Even to herself. 

“Thank you.” he says, no sign of sarcasm in his voice at all. Smile still present on his lips as he leans in to press a firm kiss upon her forehead. Evelyn figures Solas knows her well enough to have seen past the bite of her words.“Now I should leave you to your rest.”

He is up and leaving in moments and Evelyn is appalled by the immediate sense of loss she feels. How much she wants his gaze back upon her and his overly affectionate words to bask in. She doesn’t want him to leave yet, or maybe ever.

“Wait.” she calls, not formulating a sentence, just delaying his departure. But her mouth seems to have other ideas, “I think I might love you too. If that’s alright.”

Really, it’s incredible that it’s taken her this long to realize it. Evelyn thinks she may have been in serious denial about her own feelings. A self-preservation thing, probably, since he’d always seemed so distant. 

“And what brought this on?”

A cocked eyebrow, but he turns back towards the bed looking mostly amused.

“Well, I was going to wait until the next time you were injured to confess. You know, for symmetry. But I got impatient.”

Solas chuckles, an _actual_ chuckle. It’s a beautiful sound. And Evelyn thinks she might make it one of her life goals to hear it as often as possible from now on. 

“Then I think I am glad to hear it. But there are many others who will wish to see you now that you are well. I cannot be selfish with your company.” 

Evelyn fights the urge to pout, telling herself that from now on she can have him whenever she wants, that nothing is going to change between now and tonight or tomorrow or whenever they have time for each other next. 

But just in case…

“Can I have a proper kiss then, before you go?”

\------

Solas seems more than happy to oblige.


End file.
